Oddball: Escape the Crystal Palace
by Poltergust 5000
Summary: Oddball is living his life in the Crystal Empire when one day, under his command, the Crystal Army kidnaps the entire population of Yoshi Village. Faced with his forgotten past as dredged up by ex-foe Yori, Oddball realizes the Crystal Empire is nuts and helps the Yoshis to, you guessed it, escape the Crystal Palace.
1. Chapter 1

Well, here we are folks. Installment no. II in the Oddball Series. A monumental occasion if ever there wasn't one.

Let's do this thang.

* * *

Oddball: Escape the Crystal Palace

My name is Oddball. For three months now, I have been a corporal in the Crystal Army, under Commander Dooplex...

The Crystal Army Carrier floated lazily, high in the air and several miles away from Yoshi's Island. A mysterious craft, it consisted of little more than a round platform with a pedestal in the center. On top of this pedestal sat a glowing energy crystal which, when controlled by a skilled enough pilot, not only allowed the platform to fly through the air, but also created a forcefield around the platform, protecting its passengers from harm.

Oddball the Pichu slept on the carrier, lying on his back as the other passengers chatted idley about their upcoming mission. It was a simple one; enter Yoshi Village, and capture all of its inhabitants for the Commander's research, using force if necessary.

All in all, a dozen carriers floated in the air. Everything was ready; the soldiers were prepared both physically and mentally, the pilots were prepared to swing each carrier down to the beach where the soldiers would be disembarking, and... yeah.

The only thing they were waiting for was the word from Oddball to go...

...and he was still asleep.

Some time passed, with soldiers periodically watching the sun as it moved across the sky, checking their magic crystal-watches, or whistling a merry tune, before one soldier finally got the nerve to go and try to wake the corporal.

And it worked. With a gentle push, Oddball woke up, groaning tiredly.

"What, what is it?" He grumbled, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

"Uh, we're all ready to go, corporal." The soldier answered. "Just waiting for you to make the call..." she continued, awkwardly adjusting her helmet.

"Ah.". Oddball climbed to his feet, rubbing his head. "Thank you for waking me up." He said, turning away from the soldier, then looking back at her. "Miss...?"

"Noki, sir." She answered quickly. Usually appearing as a plain ball of fire with two glowing eyes, Noki the Ember was currently suited up in full body armor, her fiery soul possessing the empty shell. Her two yellow eyes peered out from inside the helmet.

"Thank you, Miss Noki." said Oddball. He turned back away from her, walking to the edge of the carrier platform, looking out at Yoshi's Island. He turned back around and began to speak to everyone, his voice amplified by an enchanted jewel tied around his neck.

"Listen up!" He shouted, his voice filling the air. "Everybody knows our mission here, correct? We're to capture every Yoshi possible, and bring them back to the Crystal Palace unharmed! Are we clear?!"

A chorus of "yup"s and "uh-huh"s rose from the crowd.

"Good!" He continued. "Does everybody have their Capture Gems?" He yelled, holding up a small handful of bright red and white gemstones. Another wave of affirmations told him the answer was yes. "Good! Dooplex has enchanted these gems with a spell that will trap whatever these hit inside them! Try not to miss!" He explained. Turning back to Yoshi's Island, he continued. "There are more than enough Capture Gems for every Yoshi in the village, but it would be best not to waste any!" He said, turning back to his soldiers once again. "Am I clear?!"

Another wave of confirmations.

"Good!" He shouted. "Pilots!" He said, sternly but with less flat-out volume, turning to look at the pilot of the carrier he stood on. "On my signal, we fly in! Got it?!"

Nods from everybody.

"One!

Two!

Three!

Fly!"

* * *

Life was good.

Yori sat on the ground as the small ragtag band onstage played a simple and relaxing tune. Oh, how he loved living here. He pitied those Yoshis stuck on the mainland, with nary a beach nor a lovely tropical climate to take to when the the going got tough. He ran a hand through his bright orange mohawk as the band quieted down momentarily before starting again.

Seated next to him were his two best friends in pretty much the whole world, Oddball and Luna. The three of them had practically grown up together, despite the slight age differences.

Oddball sat- well, he was flat-out lying on his back with his hands behind his head. He was a deep purple color, but other than that, there wasn't much that was particularily remarkable about his appearance, save for perhaps his above-average height. He was seated to Yori's right.

On the left was Luna, bright cyan skinned, with a pale lime green saddle and shoes. She was sitting up, her hands on the ground behind her, bobbing her head contentedly to the music. On her neck was a shiny pearl necklace, but again, other than that her appearance was nothing particularily interesting, per se. Save for Yori's bright orange hairstyle, the three of them were, for all intents and purposes, perfectly normal Yoshis.

Well, okay, that wasn't entirely true. Yori was unusual in that unlike most Yoshis his favorite food was the unpopular peppers, mostly shunned for their spicy and bitter taste. Yori loved them though. In fact, when he was young, he ate so many of them that he had built up a natural tolerance for heat, and if he ate enough peppers beforehand, he could even breathe fire. That... probably counts as abnormal, doesn't it? My bad.

But hey, that was the joy of living in Yoshi Village, here on Yoshi's Island. You could make flukes like that, and nobody would hold it against you! It was a laid back place, a happy place.

Unfortunately, that all came to a sudden halt when one of the band members got hit in the forehead with what looked like a tiny red and white gemstone, and was suddenly sucked into the tiny rock.

There was a short pause, and then another gemstone of the same ilk hit another band member.

And then another.

Until finally, the fourth and final band member had been sucked into a tiny gemstone, and the four gems lay on the floor before a pale figure fell from a nearby treetop, landing squarely in the center of the stage and quickly gathering the four tiny gems.

It was a ghostly looking person, with deep, sunken eyes that had glowing yellow pupils. Its whole body looked like it was made of a bedsheet, and it didn't have any visible arms to speak of. On its face was a crooked frown, and it stood on two cartoonish red feet.

In other words, a duplighost.

Suddenly, Yori heard two yelps of surprise and looked left and right to see his friends had suddenly been captured in the tiny gemstones as well. Jumping out of another treetop, another duplighost appeared, this one smiling maliciously and sporting a stylish baseball cap that somehow stayed on despite the fact it was essentially sitting on top of its head. Or body. There wasn't really a neck so they were kinda one and the same.

Yori panicked. Just as the second duplighost threw one of the tiny gemstones right at him, he dove forward, letting it fly past and hit somebody else instead. Grimacing with short-term shock-guilt, Yori ran forward, jumping up onto the stage and then over the duplighost, and running into the jungle just behind the stage.

"Get him! Don't let him get away!" He could hear somebody yell as he clawed through the undergrowth, frantically scraping and clawing to go as far as he could, as fast as he could.

Unfortunately for him, he quickly tired out trying to run through the thick jungle, and opted instead to try and hide himself in the foliage. He could hear footsteps and the sound of leaves being pushed around as he dove deep into the mess of leaves and vines beneath him, desperate to make himself hidden.

A tense moment passed. Sweat poured down his face as he listened to the footsteps of his pursuers get unnervingly close, but ultimately, it seemed he was safe. Time passed, it felt like hours, and he could hear the footsteps getting quieter until they disappeared entirely.

After waiting to make sure the coast was absolutely clear, Yori slowly left his hiding spot in the jungle, and pushed his way to the edge of the trees, where he found himself just outside Yoshi Village, but on the opposite side of where he wanted to be. He knew that, because when he looked up and around from where he stood, still mostly hidden in the plantlife around him, he could see what looked like bubbles with platforms floating inside them, slowly flying away from the island.

Reentering the jungle foliage, Yori made his way back to the stage, and emerged to find his home utterly deserted. An unearthly silence fell over the village, like in the dead of night, only in the middle of the day. The only sound he could hear was the low rustle of the wind passing through the jungle behind him.

Slowly, Yori took to walking through the deserted Yoshi Village, checking each house, until he heard something.

A low humming sound. Following the sound, Yori found himself at the village gates on the other side from where he'd been before, and peeking around the wall, he could see that one platform was still sitting on the beach outside the village. On it was a pedestal, with what looked like a floating, glowing gem above it.

Yori had an idea.

* * *

Noki finished her work, and exited the hut into the serene silence of Yoshi Village, her hand full of perfectly used Capture Gems. She couldn't wait to get back to the palace and present Commander Dooplex with her bounty, oh he'd be so happy.

Looking to the sky, Noki saw most of the carriers taking off already. She huffed, realizing that she was pretty slow at her job, even if she did do it well. Counting the carriers she saw in the sky, she realized they had left one behind, presumably for her to use to return to the palace. That was certainly nice of them, she mused.

Then, she heard a sound. A low hum, growing slowly louder. Like...

...a carrier taking off. Surprised, Noki ran forward and turned the corner of the village gates to see a bright red Yoshi with an even brighter orange mohawk, somehow managing to commandeer the piloting crystal! He was stealing her ship!

Noki ran forward as the carrier took off, the lone Yoshi piloting it seemingly oblivious to her presence. By the time she reached the edge of the beach, he was long gone.

"HEY!" She shouted.

"GET BACK HERE!"

But it was no use.

...

"Aw poop."

Chapter 1. Tadaaaaaaaa

Ahem.

Yeah.

Music for your listening pleasure:

Preparing to Invade: Suspense Theme (Mario &amp; Luigi: Superstar Saga)

Relaxing in Yoshi Village: Welcome to Yoshi Village (Paper Mario)

Crisis in Yoshi Village!: Speedy Comet (Super Mario Galaxy)


	2. Chapter 2

Oddball dumped a handful of Capture Gems on the desk. Dooplex stared at him from the other side.

"Excellent." He said, tenting his fingers. "Good work, Oddball."

"Where do you want me to bring them, sir?" Oddball asked.

Dooplex shook his head and rubbed his temple. "Um... put them in the holding cells for now. I'll be needing them for experimentation later."

"As you wish." Oddball said, bowing to Dooplex before picking up the Capture Gems and leaving the office.

Dooplex leaned back in his chair and pulled out a piece of paper from his desk, laying it flat on the desktop.

"I'm so close..." He muttered to himself. "Only a few more of the smaller civilizations, and I'll finally have an army big enough to take the larger cities..." He continued.

He turned to look behind his chair. "Are you there?"

"Yes, my lord. I await your command." somebody asked, their yellow eyes glowing in the darkness behind Dooplex.

"Join the hostages in the holding cells. Spy on them, and report to me if they start to do anything _fishy_." Dooplex commanded.

"It will be done, my lord." said the mystery person, their yellow eyes disappearing from sight.

* * *

"Here we are." The guard said, opening the door to the holding cells, deep in the basement levels of the Crystal Palace. Inside was a dank, damp, cold room made entirely out of roughly carved crystal. Cells covered the walls, set into the walls with large, thick, heavy doors of crystal bars. Several of the holding cells were already full with all sorts of different kinds of people. Toads, Koopas, even some Bob-Ombs here and there.

The mission squad filed in, and the guard, a Duplighost wearing a tacky aviator cap, led them to the nearest empty cell, where every squad member, Oddball included, tossed their Capture Gems inside.

Soon, a small herds-worth of Yoshis sat, dazed, inside the holding cell. The heavy door closed before any of them could regain their senses, and the guard laughed.

"Only a few more left, guys! Then we can start tackling the bigger cities once we get these guys assimilated." the guard said, looking around the holding cell area at the other prisoners.

"Indeed." Oddball stated matter-of-factly.

There was a long, awkward moment of silence, broken only by the growing jabbering of the Yoshi prisoners, who were just now getting their heads together.

"Anyone want to hit the mess hall?" One random soldier asked.

A chorus of whoops and yeahs rose from the small group of soldiers as they all left the room, leaving Oddball alone with the guard.

"Sooo..." the guard started. "What do we do now?"

"We wait, Doopligan." Oddball answered. "Soon enough, Dooplex will request of us another raid, and we will go and capture the peoples of whatever unfortunate little hamlet he chooses. It's as simple as that."

Doopligan just scratched his head.

Suddenly, the two of them heard a peculiar sound.

Footsteps. Approaching the holding cell area.

A bright red Yoshi with an even brighter orange mohawk peeked into the room, immediately realizing his grave error when Oddball and Gilligan both raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh crap."

* * *

Yori gasped as he stepped back onto the ground outside the Crystal Palace after his long journey through the air on the Crystal Army Carrier. He fell to his knees and made love to the beautiful, beautiful earth beneath him.

"Oh Earth, how I missed you..." He moaned, kissing the ground. "Noone will ever take you away from me again..." He continued. "Noone will ever know of our forbidden love..." He continued again, flat out delirious from relief at this point.

Slowly he came to, dizzy with leftover adrenaline, and he looked up at the Palace in front of him. It was massive, with high spires and sprawling balconies and paths, forming a truly majestic web of crystalline structures.

It was all made of shining, shimmering crystal. It kinda hurt Yori's eyes to look at it, actually.

The front doors were locked, or barred shut, or whatever, as Yori quickly found out. It was a second later that he realized that would probably set off a couple alarms inside, so he quickly ducked to the side, hiding behind a pillar on the outside of the building just as a duplighost sporting a well-kept mushroom cut of blonde hair and carrying a large mace unlocked the front doors and stepped out, surveying the area for a short moment before closing the doors.

Yori sighed with relief.

"Who's there?!"

And instantly realized the guard hadn't necessarily gone back inside before closing the doors.

The guard duplighost's footsteps grew closer, and Yori began to sweat furiously. Finally, just when he could stand it no more, he bolted, sprinting for the corner of the palace and ducking around the corner.

The guard saw him, unfortunately.

"Get back here!" He shouted in a young, but husky voice.

Yori wasn't listening. He kept running around the palace until he found a convenient open window. Without even looking behind him to see if the guard was still there, Yori dove inside.

This proved to be a mistake, as he found himself in some sort of indoor spa, where several of the soldiers had shedded their armor and were getting massages.

Somehow- Yori didn't dare question it -, everyone's eyes were closed, be it from relaxation or from some kind of meditation. They hadn't heard him come in, either, it seemed.

The guard walked by outside. Yori had officially lost him.

Now came the tricky part. Yori began to quietly tip toe through the room, praying to Arceus nobody opened their eyes. On several occasions, he would nearly back into somebody or almost walk into someone from not watching where he was going, but against all odds, he managed to make it out of the room, stepping into the hallway.

Now he just needed to figure out where the other Yoshis were being held.

Yori began to run through the halls of the Crystal Palace, careful not to turn a corner until he was sure it was safe, and narrowly avoided getting caught several times.

Eventually, he made it to the main hall, where he was able to keep to the shadows and out of sight long enough to catch sight of a billboard on the wall.

There was a map. Yori thanked Arceus.

The Holding Cell Area was in the basement. Yori bet his saddle that was where they were being held.

And where was he...?

The Main Hall. Now that he realized it, those were the main front doors over there, weren't they...?

Keeping to the dark, he snuck back out of the room, emerging into the hallway once again only to be met face-to-face with a young female duplighost who, judging from her reaction, was expecting literally anything else to have suddenly appeared in front of her in the hallway.

"EAGH!" She cried, jumping at Yori's sudden appearance. Yori took advantage of the momentary distraction and awkwardly flailed past her, running down the hall just as a small group of guards rounded the corner he'd come from, alerted by the lady duplighost's cry.

Yori turned another corner just as he heard the lady he'd almost crashed into telling the guards which way he'd gone, and soon he began to hear the sound of light footsteps pounding in his general direction. Turning another corner he found a flight of stairs leading down just as he'd seen on the map, and he screamed down them. He'd always been fast.

Emerging on the basement floor, Yori could only hope he remembered the correct path to the holding cell area. The guards were fast approaching behind him- he could already hear them coming down the stairs -, so he had to act fast. He dashed for a door and opened it to find...

A broom closet.

Huffing sharply, he dashed to another door and opened it, only to find...

Another broom closet.

"Oh come on." He muttered. The guards were almost here, he didn't had time for this crap!

Wait, scratch that. The guards were already there. Yori dove into the broom closet, closing it behind him just as the guards stepped out onto the floor.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Yori exhaled.

"Did you hear that?"

Yori inhaled sharply.

...

...

...

...

...

Yori exhaled.

...

Nothing.

Heaving a deep sigh of relief, Yori opened the broom closet. Fortunately, there was nobody waiting for him outside. Stepping out, he began to check each door in the room. Amazingly, every single door in this room led to a broom closet.

...Nah, I'm just kiddin. The next one he tried lead to a hallway, which he promptly headed down. This should be the place, he thought...

Sure enough, when he turned the corner, there it was. A sign on the wall said "Holding Cells". He was here! He broke into a run, slowing before he reached the door.

He leaned his head into the doorway to peek into the room, and a Pichu and a duplighost looked back at him, each raising an eyebrow at his appearance.

"Oh crap."

* * *

Oddball dusted off his hands. The sudden arrival had been a toughie, but he and the guard had been successful in detaining him and shoving him in the next holding cell over. Unfortunately, they weren't able to put him in with the other Yoshis (the prisoners would no doubt have overpowered the two while trying to escape), but having him in his own holding cell would have to do for now.

"You'll never get away with this..." Yori muttered from inside his crystal prison. Oddball laughed.

"Get away with what? Recruiting subjects for the glorious Crystal Empire? I see nothing wrong with that. Your little Yoshi Village was so utterly backwater anyway. You should be thanking us! Your lives in the Crystal Empire will be so much more rewarding than they were on that ancient island." said Oddball, smiling up at Yori from the other side of the bars. Yori grimaced, an unreadable expression on his face.

...

Oddball narrowed an eye at the Yoshi.

"What's that look for?", he inquired. Yori blinked once, then raised an eyebrow.

"What... happened to you?" Yori asked. "When we first met at the Pokemon League, you were such a loose cannon. It seemed like you had no idea what you were going to do once you got outta there. What made you suddenly join the Crystal Empire, and start kidnapping whole civilisations, no less? It doesn't seem like the kind of thing you would have done.", he continued.

"Pff." Oddball huffed, turning away from the Yoshi. "Like I would give my secrets away to the likes of you." He said.

Yori squinted his eyes. Something about Oddball's tone of voice made him think...

"Do you even remember why you're here? In the Crystal Empire?", he asked. He could see Oddball's shoulders tense before the Pichu turned to face him.

"Do you take me for a fool? Of course I remember why I'm here. What a stupid question." Oddball admonished. Yori only smirked.

"Oh yeah? Then tell me. Why are you here, Oddball the Pichu?"

Oddball scoffed again.

"That's none of your business, lizard." Oddball said, sneering at Yori from behind the bars.

"Of course not. I didn't mean to pry." Yori said, grinning. Oddball growled and turned away, walking past the guard to the door leading upstairs.

"Doopligan!"

"Y-Yes, Corporal!"

"Tell Dooplex I'm checking in for the night."

"Y-Yes, Corporal."

...

They were gone.

Yori sat down in the cold cell, shivering when he realized the floor was even colder than the air.

The cell was fairly drab, at least, for the Crystal Palace. It was still made entirely of shimmering crystal, but compared to the sleekly carved surfaces and designs of the upper floors the ground and walls down in the basement floors were rough and unpolished. The glimmer was less down here, too. The bars were made of a very transparent, but apparently still very durable gem that no matter how hard he tried, Yori couldn't seem to scratch. Of course, Yoshis weren't exactly known for their sharp claws…

"Hey, Yori."

Yori perked up.

"Eh?" He voiced, trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from.

"Over here. It's me, Oddball." the voice said again. Yori could tell now that it was coming from the cell next to him, where the other Yoshis were being kept. It was Oddball, one of Yori's two best friends.

Yori grimaced. There were two Oddballs. That wasn't going to get confusing at all. He needed to come up with nicknames for them or something… maybe Oddshi for his friend…

"So you got captured too, huh?" Oddshi asked Yori. "When I noticed you weren't with us, I hoped for the best… guess they found you."

"Well, I was going to try and save you guys…" Yori sighed. "And I almost managed it too, but I wasn't expecting there to be somebody in here…"

"Hey, don't sweat it, man." said Oddshi. "Say, that stuff you said to that Pichu guy… how much of that was just guessing?" He asked, obviously inquiring to Yori's off-the-cuff putting-on-the-spot of the Corporal.

"Ah, most of that was just improv." Yori explained.

"Well, I think it might have done something. If he remembers something from before he was here, maybe it'll be something that makes him turn good! …Or something." said Oddshi.

"Oh come on, Oddball. What are the chances of that happening?" Yori replied, leaning against the back wall and slowly sliding onto the floor.

Though Yori couldn't see it, Oddshi just shrugged, and then neither of them spoke.

* * *

Oddball was… conflicted. Or confused, perhaps.

He hadn't really ever thought about what his life had been like before he had joined the Crystal Empire. It had never seemed important; his life in the Crystal Empire made him happy, that was all that mattered, right?

But… now that he thought about it, now that that Yoshi had pointed it out to him… he couldn't remember his life before the Crystal Empire. It was like a blur in his mind. It was troubling, to say the least.

But, I mean, like, whatever, right? Right…? All that mattered was that he was happy now, right?

No. He was too curious. He needed to find out what kind of life he had lived before being brought into the Crystal Empire.

He would ask Dooplex. There was absolutely no way that could possibly ever backfire.

* * *

_Knock knock knock._

"Yes?" Dooplex asked, reading over papers at his desk.

"It's Oddball", Oddball answered from behind the door.

"Come in."

Oddball the Pichu opened the door and entered Dooplex's office. It was a moderately small, well-furnished room with a desk made of polished wood in the center, and a large, black leather chair behind it. The wall paper was an elegant mix of red, gold and black, arranged in intricate designs that resembled vines crawling up the walls, and the carpet was a simple ornate rug of the same three colors.

Dooplex was seated in the chair, at the desk, opposite Oddball. He looked up from the papers on his desk and tented his fingers. "What is it?" He asked.

"I've been wondering something recently." Oddball started. Dooplex raised one eyebrow. "One of the prisoners we captured from Yoshi's Island said something that really got me thinking." Dooplex's brow furrowed into a glare.

"Out with it." Dooplex snapped impatiently. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Of course." Oddball stammered. "It's… I can't remember anything from before I joined the Crystal Empire." He explained.

Dooplex stopped for a second.

"If you know anything about me before I came here, I would love to know." Oddball continued.

Dooplex stared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment.

…

"I suppose I can oblige." He finally replied. He opened a drawer on his desk, and rummaged around for a second before pulling out a small manila folder. "Here." He said, placing it on the table and sliding it toward Oddball.

"Thank you, sir." Oddball said, picking up the folder.

"Leave me." Dooplex said simply, already having returned to poring over the papers on his desk.

…

Oddball left.

* * *

Happy munchkins, Chapter 2 for the winnow. You know, like, the fish.

I dunno.

Music for your listening pleasure:

Dooplex's Theme: Neo Bowser Sunrise (Mario &amp; Luigi: Dream Team)

Quiet Crystal Palace: Dark Castle (Secret of Evermore)

Crystal Palace 1F-B1F: Into the Thick of It (Secret of Mana)

Crystal Palace 1F-B1F (Near Enemy): Did You See the Ocean (Secret of Mana)

Tension: Fearful Experience (Persona 3)


End file.
